Talk ‘N Text overcame what its coach described as one ‘disappointing effort,’ surviving a Derby Ace squad that lost its import 37 seconds into the match to carve out a 107-102 win and claim the other outright semifinals berth in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Friday night at the Araneta Colizeum.
It was the seventh straight win by the Texters after losing their opening game to Smart-Gilas on Feb. 25, a performance that didn’t look pretty in the eyes of Reyes. Still, the performance was enough to hold off the Llamados who played without Courtney Beasley with 11:33 left to play in the first quarter after a flagrant foul 2 he committed against Harvey Carey.
“I’m relieved that we got the top two spot,” said Reyes. “But you know me, I’m really disappointed with our effort. My players thought we had the game won when they lost their import. That’s very alarming and we took a giant step backwards. Luckily we made some shots in the end.”
Beasley was the victim of the landing spot rule when he tried to contest a shot by Carey, and was ejected from the game the Llamados needed so badly to keep their hopes alive for the playoffs. Now, Derby Ace might not make it to the next round at all.
That’s because with Talk ‘N Text’s win, Alaska, Ginebra and Rain or Shine all advanced to the playoffs outright. The Aces lost to Rain or Shine in a match earlier in the day, 113-97, to drop in a tie with Ginebra at 5-3 (win-loss) while the Elasto Painters may have been the most fortunate with the situation with their 4-4 record proving to be enough to advance into the best-of-3 quarterfinal round even with one more game left in the elimination round.
Derby Ace lost for the fifth time in nine outings, and the only chance it has to qualify into the next round is for Air21, at 3-4, to lose one of its two remaining games. The Llamados and the Express will then have the same record, but Derby Ace possesses the higher quotient and will thus advance.
Rain or Shine, on the other hand, owns a better quotient than the Express.
If Air21 wins its last two games, it will move on to the next round, eliminating the Llamados. Three teams have already been ousted from the playoffs — San Miguel Beer, Powerede and Meralco.
Paul Harris scored 10 of his personal conference high 37 points in the fourth quarter, and the Texters needed a 10-2 run to frustrate the Llamados, who for the third straight time played without two-time MVP James Yap.
Harris scored six in that decisive blast as the Texters wriggled out of a 95-93 count to gain a 105-95 advantage Derby Ace failed to overcome.
Kerrby Raymundo led Derby Ace with 22 points and 11 rebounds and Marc Pingris had 13 points and 12 boards.
The Elasto Painters snapped out of a four-game losing streak behind a 14-3 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to earn the separation they thought was a ‘must’ to beat the Aces. That blast turned a 75-67 advantage into an 89-70 advantage Rain or Shine never relinquished en route to its fourth win in eight games.
“Our worry was that they were going to hang around in the end game,” said Yeng Guiao, the Painters’ coach. “That was what we were trying to avoid. The experience of Alaska is hard to beat. We tried to put some distance as early.
Alaska won its previous game against Meralco, 104-101, in overtime even if its import, LD Williams, was ejected because of a flagrant foul 2 he committed against Mark Cardona. But it was entirely different this time for the Aces, who indeed missed Williams’ average numbers of 21.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Beau Belga had a surprise performance for the Painters in scoring a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting on top of 10 rebounds and five assists, while import Hassan Adams had 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
LA Tenorio was the biggest disappointment among the Aces. The shifty playmaker, who in the game against the Bolts established a career-high 33 points, all in the second half, was held to four points on 2-of-11 shooting and only had one assist.
“We actually had a hard game against Alaska even without their import,” Guiao said. “It’s a big break since we lost four straight and we needed this to boost our confidence.”
